Rescuing Toilet Paper

We have had a rough time with cats.

For over nine years our cat Jace, a velcro cat, was our friendly neighborhood defender. He would prowl the property all night and rest at our feet during the day.

We lost Jace to dog mauling, then a few weeks later, one of our kitten rescues to the same fate. After one more loss, we made the choice to keep our two remaining cats indoors permanently. That is also challenging for many reasons. But two cats are not the end of the world.

In the Spring, my oldest daughter rescued a tiny little Russian Blue mix and couldn’t keep him. So, we took him in.

Adding a third cat wasn’t that difficult except that Peter Bagel Paker, his name, lives up to its nonsense. He climbs, jumps, sticks to the wall, eats everything, and doesn’t see any problem with it at all.

The hardest problem, however, is his constant serial need to murder toilet paper rolls. The count this week is at 10. And when I say murder, I mean it. He takes the wrapper off, shreds the 1000 sheets, then leaves the room with a Simba-like strut. And those who know me understand that this is not acceptable in any sense.

Another thing he has started to do is to pull up my baby pepper and tomato plants growing hydroponically in the kitchen. It’s a game now to see how many times we will find the seedling and it still grows. Let’s just face the facts. Peter is a difficult cat.

I am hoping that next week after his little doctor adventure to eunuch land he may settle down, but either way, we will make concessions for him to a degree because, well, rescues come at a cost. There is always a trade-off when investing in a cat like Peter who came from a different land at a different time. Making concessions for important relationships are just part of life and some of those irritating little things can be celebrated and enjoyed.

I hope you get the point.